Nick Hall competes at cross country nationals

Samantha Didion
November 30, 2016

On Nov 19, Nick Hall placed 16th out of 248 other athletes at the NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championships held in St. Leo Florida and received his second All-American award.

This was Hall’s second time competing at the National Cross Country Meet, he first earned the award and competed in the meet in 2014 when he placed 19th.

According to Ashland University’s Cross Country page, Hall’s placement “is the Ashland men’s program’s highest since Nick Cordes took second at 2002 nationals in Ashland, and he is the program’s first multiple All-American since Cordes.”

“Each year for the past few years the national championships has gotten more and more competitive. His performance this year was much stronger than it was two years ago,” coach Thomas Scott said. “He has worked really hard his entire collegiate career and he continues to see the results of that.  Although he was 16th overall, I believe he was the 7th American.”

In the competitive race, Hall managed to remain in the top 30 so that he would not get lost within the pack of other runners and began to make his move towards the front during the last 2k
 
“It got out fast. Fastest start of a race I’ve ever been a part of, but I positioned myself in the top 10 to avoid the mess of the pack,” Hall said. “Fell off regrettably mid-race…and had to dig deep down and realize why I was here. I closed really hard.”

Nick Hall had a big support system down in Florida with him, “It was a matter of feeling the support all the way from Ohio, and my family who traveled here to pick me up and close.”

After the excitement of the meet, Hall and his support system took a break and went Clearwater Beach to refresh and start getting ready for the track and field season.